Voice Assistants Reduce Senior Isolation

Using the Aiva Platform, Smart Speakers like Amazon Echo and Google Nest Help Residents and Caregivers at Senior Communities Dealing with COVID.

‍

In response to COVID-19, senior living facilities have been on lockdown.  Roughly 815,000 senior residents across the country are confined to their living quarters with little to do.  Over half of these individuals are above the age of 85 and represent our “oldest old.”

Families, acutely aware of the danger to the elderly, have wisely decided to practice social distancing.  Those who absolutely need to see their loved ones are resorting to extreme and unorthodox measures, like having phone conversations through senior community windows.

Although COVID-19 has been particularly challenging for senior living communities, voice technology is a bright beacon of hope for keeping this vulnerable population connected, safe and engaged through this time.

Voice Assistants in Senior Living

Voice-powered devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant have become ubiquitous in recent years.  Such devices are relatively affordable — many under $50 — and they come loaded with a range of “skills” or features that can be used to improve everyday life.  Such features include traditional entertainment options like music, news, and weather, but voice technology can also be leveraged to provide more critical assistance like medication reminders, fall alerts and two-way communication with caregivers.

Aiva Health has created a number of specialized skills that make voice assistants particularly powerful in the senior living environment.

• Two-Way Communication.  Using Aiva, residents can contact caregivers for immediate assistance.  This allows staff to address many requests quickly and remotely, while minimizing person-to-person exposure by reserving room visits for urgent needs.
• Smart Routing.  When a resident tells Aiva they want something, she understands and routes the request to the mobile device of the most appropriate staff member, who gets instant context on what that resident needs.  This cuts down on trips to resident rooms and allows staff to resolve many requests with a single trip.
• Socialization.  Residents can use Aiva to place hands-free phone calls to family and friends during quarantine, relieving their isolation.
• Customized Community FAQs.  Many calls to the front desk and even room visits are to answer simple questions, including the schedule of daily activities for the community and mail arrival times.  Aiva can respond immediately to resident FAQs, allowing caregivers to focus on more urgent resident needs.
• Smart Room Controls.  Senior living staff spend a surprising amount of time helping residents turn on and off lights, adjust temperature, open blinds and operate the TV.  Aiva enables residents to control these and other devices with just their voice, reducing their help requests to staff.

Voice technology can meaningfully improve the quality of life for seniors during the current quarantine and long after the threat of COVID has subsided.  Aiva’s voice skills improve staff efficiency, but more importantly, they make everyday life safer and more enjoyable for senior residents.

Please reach out if you’d like to learn more.

‍